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JULY/AUGUST 2021 LIGHTING JOURNAL
Letters to the editor Paris at night (pre Covid). France has already taken steps to limit light pollution and blue light
‘I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE UK GOVERNMENT
SET LIMITS ON BLUE LIGHT’ T
he levels of competence in LED specification really do concern me, they are quite alarming in fact. Quite by chance, I recently came across a public lighting scheme that is off the scale in its blue light component but it was also delivered with significant flicker. I have absolutely no doubt that public health, safety for pedestrians and motorists alike are being compromised in our dash to carbon reduction in the name of saving the planet. It’s not all doom and gloom. There are some great initiatives out there with very low light levels or, indeed, even switch-off regimes in place and those should be highly commended. But, make no mistake, high-blue content LED impacts fauna considerably and there is increasing evidence of concerns for human wellbeing too at light levels that are present in street/urban lighting. If you care to look in the right places, the fauna disruption an hour after dusk is plain for all to see. A move to 2700K sources effectively reduces the amount of blue light component by over 50% over a 4000K choice and should, in my opinion, be considered standard good practice. It is my belief that we have failed, and continue to fail, the public with LED installs that
become increasingly questionable both in lighting performance, glare uniformity and wet weather, not to mention its suitability for an ageing populace and other unwanted impacts.
‘LACKLUSTRE’ ATTITUDE
Just the other day yet another local authority faced a barrage of criticism. I spoke with it at length pre-tender and forwarded all the performance and impact research at its request. It didn’t even bother to download it. Now surprise, surprise, the public is calling foul yet again. We also need to recognise we have an even bigger elephant in the room as we start the dash to full-spectrum light for interiors. Without auto blinds function, occupancy and curfew control we risk further catastrophic devastation of the natural world. One has to be concerned about the lacklustre attitude of Public Health England (now of course being replaced anyway), local authorities and other specifying bodies such as Highways England and, indeed, industry bodies and supply chain. France and a number of other countries have already taken steps to limit abuse of this new technology. If you care to read the French Standards Anses (the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety) report, it clearly sets out
why the French pushed through legislation promptly [1]. To recap, that legislation, the ‘Decree of 27 December 2018 on the prevention, reduction and limitation of light pollution’, which came into effect at the beginning of 2019, sets out outdoor lighting curfews, limits on allowed emissions of light directly into the night sky, reduced glare requirements, restriction on blue light emissions, and allowable illumination levels [2]. It was also interesting to read recently of a successful legal challenge in the US to a bridge lighting scheme, where a judge ordered the lighting to be replaced with 2700K to reduce the impact on wildlife. Although it is very much my own opinion, I feel it is time for UK government to do the same and be equally proactive, to push back against self-interest and ensure that ‘good’ lighting remains the priority. I would like to see the UK government set limits on blue light, much as the French government has done, and beef up planning regulations, again much in line with the action plan recently proposed by All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dark Skies [3]. Brian Healy MSLL is owner of Bright Design Carbon Solutions
[1] ‘LEDs & blue light: health effects of lighting systems using light-emitting diodes (LEDs)’, Anses, September 2020, https://www.anses.fr/en/content/leds-blue-light [2] ‘France Adopts National Light Pollution Policy Among Most Progressive In The World’, International Dark-Sky Association, January 2019, https://www.darksky.org/france-light-pollution-law-2018/; ‘Arrêté du 27 décembre 2018 relatif à la prévention, à la réduction et à la limitation des nuisances lumineuses’, https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000037864346?r=uYgvaZU0Hm [3] ‘Ten Dark Sky policies for the government’, All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dark Skies, December 2020, https://appgdarkskies.co.uk/ www.theilp.org.uk
